There are Medicaid eligibility issues for the Mother, now living in a care facility, debt and probate issues for the Daughter's estate, a false quit claim executed by heirs that didn't inherit the property, and a host of family members living the house with alleged claims to the property.I can't quite wrap my head around buying this one sub-to the life estate AND the unprobated remaindeman estate without having full possession.

A confused mind says 'no' and you do not possess the skills necessary to determine which ones to work with and which ones to avoid.Yeah, people are flakey.

@Bonnie Galvan, you would do better to pursue an eviction for lack of payment, rather than regain possession through abandonment. 

@Jonathan Hart, you are entitled to possession with an Alabama tax certificate or a deed.

In the rent with option to buy contract should include the purchase price and terms, you should ask for 3% down nonrefundable for the option, the rent is that just rent unless you want to portion some of it towards reducing the purchase price, up to you. if they don't preform the option the 3% is yours and you now have possession of the property to do it all over again.

Only when I filed the FTPR did they suddenly start mentioning as a countermeasure new conditions of the house I'd already fixed everything of which I was aware - still in possession of all the heaters I gave them during the winter, in addition to the baseboard heaters I installed after it closing, she now began complaining about the "lack of heat" in court during the hundred-degree dry spell of July.Her friendly demeanor now having vanished, she answered the door with a stark expression saying, "I don't know what games y'all are playin'", and after five minutes of argument, allowed me to come in with the lead inspector who passed it.

That being said, I'm right out of the chute and I've been reading like a man possessed and listening to every podcast I can get my ears on.Some of the books I've read so far or am in the process of reading:Quit Your Job in 19 Weeks or Less: The Ultimate Real Estate Investing Blueprint - Sean TerryWhat Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow - Frank GallinelliConfessions of a Real Estate Entrepreneur - James A.

If you want to add up the non-performing months waiting to toss our the deadbeats, you can also add in the time to actually evict them after receiving the judge approved writ of possession.

Since you don't know the backstory, it's quite possible that the girlfriend has more than just possession. 

To protect myself from adverse possession I am thinking about making the neighbor sign a paper acknowledging that this is my land.